How do you think Barcelona could improve?

Pedro's been inconsistent all season long, only showing up for España and missing chances like its going out of style. Might as well bench him and play Tello or Cuenca more often.

The Franchise wrote:I would rather keep Abidal than Alba, not going to happen and im fully aware of Abidal' situation but I see very little good with Alba.

What's your problem with Alba? If one of the fullbacks has to go it's clearly Alves, not Alba. I have yet to see anything coming through Alba's side as consistently as through Alves'. The latter is CONSTANTLY dragged inside in a CB position and leaving his winger completely unmarked like for the Moratta header chance. This is happening in every game. EVERY game. Barca has conceded at least 10 goals like that this season alone from his side where he's doing his best centreback impression. Not to mention that he interprets his role like a winger who tracks back and not like a fullback who attacks. In every big game teams counterattack through his side. El Shaarawy who got behind Alves a couple of times, Drogba's goal at Stamford Bridge last season which was initiated via a Lampard longball into the space behind Alves, countless Ronaldo goals. Hell, even in 2010 when Inter won 3-1 one of the goals was a huge Alves *bleep* where he again did his best centreback impression, leaving his flank empty. Alba has been slightly off recently because he had a Euros AND Olympics in the summer but he's by far the better fullback this season.

We should sell pedro, but I don't think anyone will really want to buy him...

Cesc should be given another chance, especially since when Tito was here he played pretty well for the most part. Pique should stay as well. Alexis should be sold, Puyol should be on rotation. Alves should stay.

Alba should be a bench player in favour of Adriano (at least against big teams-if alves is playing).

Masch needs to leave. I like Song, and tbh he has not done much wrong while he was here. In fact, I think he should get more minutes.

In...
Aguero/Neymar
A good CB
A good GK

Out..
Masch
Pedro
Alexis


Give Bartra, Tello, Cuenca (when he comes back), Montoya much more minutes. I was not particularly fond of Deulofeu when he played in the first team, and I think he should be given more time in the B team.

a CB and their coach back. i think those are the 2 biggest areas that need to improve at the moment.

other than that is just minor tweaks. come the end of the season they will have to deal with a couple players leaving

thats it though

sell Villa , Buy chiellini .

Alba is f*cking awful pls sell him and keep Abidal.

Abidal with cancer is better.

CBarca wrote:Alba is f*cking awful pls sell him and keep Abidal.

Abidal with cancer is better.

It's hard to find a good LB nowadays. Alba , as he plays for the NT , was the best choice. I don't like him either , i'd rather have Monreal or a defensive-minded def . Alba won't be sold anytime soon imo ...

revert back to Rijkaard's system

They've been poor for two weeks max. And that's only because key players have played 60-70 games consistently for 3 seasons straight now. They just need depth.

Fact is, they still sit 10 points above Madrid in the league, and they're still not out of the CL. So settle down.

Problem is that Roura doesn't learn from his mistakes, provides no direction or solutions in times of problems. When he makes substitutions its late making the impact subs making little time to impact in the game. He has completely lost the philosophy and provides only little motivation when we clearly need direction
Tito when he was coach, would actually know what problems are happening. He would know that Fab and Iniesta disturb the system and would take 4 or 5 losses to figure it out. Substitutions he makes them early and changes up the tactics providing us with a better attack or better defense. True, defense is crap and has been since the start but since Roura has come its not only just the defense that is crap but also the midfield and the attack.

We definately need transfers and tbh 40 million will not help us. We need to sell players in order to get some of the players who we need. A new CB and a new forward is what we need atm and possibly even a new keeper.
It will be busy and hopefully good business throughout the next transfer market.

Well you definitely need a keeper in the summer. Valdes has said he will not re-sign and Pinto is not good enough.

You need to buy a central defender in the summer also. Puyol isn't getting any younger and Pique has been a joke of a "world class player" in the last past 2 seasons. Mascherano as much as I love him isn't as good as a CB as he is as a DM. Wouldn't mind him moving abroad to prove his quality once more.

You don't really need an attacker unless you sell David Villa.

I don't think Barca has that big problems that they need a total revamp. Only thing they need to do is return to original plan which made them good under Pep in the first place. What they need to do is bring in some fresh air in at both ends of their formation.

I would bring in Nerman, Muslera (or maybe ter Stegen), Isco (or Aguero if they can somehow manage to get him) and quality CB. Get rid of Sanchez, Tello, Valdes and either Masche or Song. I wouldn't get rid of Villa or Pedro because part of their problems is the depth. Villa and Pedro are already experienced and could bring something new when subbed in.

The next season squad:

* = Aguero is a main target. Isco is an alternative.
** = Song or Mascherano. Song is more Barca type, but Mascherano is better defender and something different. My personal pick would be Mascherano.
*** = Abidal, Bartra or find promising young cb.
**** = Don't know which quality CB you can manage to lure atm.

Error wrote:I don't think Barca has that big problems that they need a total revamp. Only thing they need to do is return to original plan which made them good under Pep in the first place. What they need to do is bring in some fresh air in at both ends of their formation.

I would bring in Nerman, Muslera (or maybe ter Stegen), Isco (or Aguero if they can somehow manage to get him) and quality CB. Get rid of Sanchez, Tello, Valdes and either Masche or Song. I wouldn't get rid of Villa or Pedro because part of their problems is the depth. Villa and Pedro are already experienced and could bring something new when subbed in.

The next season squad:

Messi / Villa
Neymar / Deulofeu----------------------- * / Pedro
Iniesta / Cesc-------Xavi / Thiago
Busquets / **
Alba / Adriano----**** / Puyol------Pique / ***------Alves / Montoya
Muslera / Pinto

* = Aguero is a main target. Isco is an alternative.
** = Song or Mascherano. Song is more Barca type, but Mascherano is better defender and something different. My personal pick would be Mascherano.
*** = Abidal, Bartra or find promising young cb.
**** = Don't know which quality CB you can manage to lure atm.

Get rid of Tello?

barca 2011 wrote:

Error wrote:I don't think Barca has that big problems that they need a total revamp. Only thing they need to do is return to original plan which made them good under Pep in the first place. What they need to do is bring in some fresh air in at both ends of their formation.

I would bring in Nerman, Muslera (or maybe ter Stegen), Isco (or Aguero if they can somehow manage to get him) and quality CB. Get rid of Sanchez, Tello, Valdes and either Masche or Song. I wouldn't get rid of Villa or Pedro because part of their problems is the depth. Villa and Pedro are already experienced and could bring something new when subbed in.

The next season squad:

Messi / Villa
Neymar / Deulofeu----------------------- * / Pedro
Iniesta / Cesc-------Xavi / Thiago
Busquets / **
Alba / Adriano----**** / Puyol------Pique / ***------Alves / Montoya
Muslera / Pinto

* = Aguero is a main target. Isco is an alternative.
** = Song or Mascherano. Song is more Barca type, but Mascherano is better defender and something different. My personal pick would be Mascherano.
*** = Abidal, Bartra or find promising young cb.
**** = Don't know which quality CB you can manage to lure atm.

Get rid of Tello?

He can stays as waterboy if he wants because I don't see him as future starter at Barca. Deulofeu seem much more promising and I would rather focus more on grooming him. Of course you could throw Pedro out and stick with Tello, but I would prefer Pedro as an experience backup over Tello.

Error wrote:

barca 2011 wrote:

Error wrote:I don't think Barca has that big problems that they need a total revamp. Only thing they need to do is return to original plan which made them good under Pep in the first place. What they need to do is bring in some fresh air in at both ends of their formation.

I would bring in Nerman, Muslera (or maybe ter Stegen), Isco (or Aguero if they can somehow manage to get him) and quality CB. Get rid of Sanchez, Tello, Valdes and either Masche or Song. I wouldn't get rid of Villa or Pedro because part of their problems is the depth. Villa and Pedro are already experienced and could bring something new when subbed in.

The next season squad:

Messi / Villa
Neymar / Deulofeu----------------------- * / Pedro
Iniesta / Cesc-------Xavi / Thiago
Busquets / **
Alba / Adriano----**** / Puyol------Pique / ***------Alves / Montoya
Muslera / Pinto

* = Aguero is a main target. Isco is an alternative.
** = Song or Mascherano. Song is more Barca type, but Mascherano is better defender and something different. My personal pick would be Mascherano.
*** = Abidal, Bartra or find promising young cb.
**** = Don't know which quality CB you can manage to lure atm.

Get rid of Tello?

He can stays as waterboy if he wants because I don't see him as future starter at Barca. Deulofeu seem much more promising and I would rather focus more on grooming him. Of course you could throw Pedro out and stick with Tello, but I would prefer Pedro as an experience backup over Tello.

Well maybe you don't see him as a starter because he hasn't gotten the right amount of time to establish himself, especially this season so tbh we haven't seen it either. And you don't have to "throw Pedro out" but after how many inconsistent performances should he at least be benched in favor of Tello?

barca 2011 wrote:

Error wrote:

barca 2011 wrote:
Get rid of Tello?

He can stays as waterboy if he wants because I don't see him as future starter at Barca. Deulofeu seem much more promising and I would rather focus more on grooming him. Of course you could throw Pedro out and stick with Tello, but I would prefer Pedro as an experience backup over Tello.

Well maybe you don't see him as a starter because he hasn't gotten the right amount of time to establish himself, especially this season so tbh we haven't seen it either. And you don't have to "throw Pedro out" but after how many inconsistent performances should he at least be benched in favor of Tello?

This all boils down to what each of us prefers. You would clearly rather stick with Tello and trust he has a lot of potential. I would stick with Pedro, who has already shown what he is capable off, but is now in bad form.

Error wrote:

barca 2011 wrote:

Error wrote:
He can stays as waterboy if he wants because I don't see him as future starter at Barca. Deulofeu seem much more promising and I would rather focus more on grooming him. Of course you could throw Pedro out and stick with Tello, but I would prefer Pedro as an experience backup over Tello.

Well maybe you don't see him as a starter because he hasn't gotten the right amount of time to establish himself, especially this season so tbh we haven't seen it either. And you don't have to "throw Pedro out" but after how many inconsistent performances should he at least be benched in favor of Tello?

This all boils down to what each of us prefers. You would clearly rather stick with Tello and trust he has a lot of potential. I would stick with Pedro, who has already shown what he is capable off, but is now in bad form.

Perhaps, but one thing I can say I'm almost sure of is that no one actually has to get sold, aside from Alexis, and with us keeping Villa a new forward shouldn't be the first priority. With that said I don't see a problem with a frontline of

Pedro-----Messi-----Tello/Villa
for the remainder of the season since tello and pedro both usually play opposite flanks anyways. But Tello clearly deserves more minutes and if Pedro were benched and Tello was played on the right, I'd love to see that as well.

Tello----Messi----Villa

It'd be refreshing imo. But regardless, selling Tello at this point in his career would be a giant mistake.

tbh at this stage with the league standing the way it is, its time barca started seriously preparing for life without the likes of puyol, xavi and alves! sure the tie against milan isnt over and it is possible to go through still but in the league at least they should start planning for whats going to happen next with the team!

would definetely start giving montoya serious game time and force him either to prove he can be the next right back or break and not make it! with a more defensive montoya on the right, we can afford to play alba on the right! same goes for bartra in the centre instead of puyol! make or break time!!
as for xavi, he's not going to be around forever! would love to see a midfield of iniesta, busquets and thiago given a decent run! thiago has got the skills and potential! its high time he was forced to step up and take on the full responsibilty of the barca midfield with iniesta and busi!

up front its clear that major changes have to be made! pedro has been woeful for the last few games as has cesc! villa wasnt much better but at least he offers something different in terms of play and a goalscoring threat! alexis has no confidence at all so needs to be nursed back or sent on loan! tbh i think we made a huge mistake with him, not in buying him, but in forcing him to try to adapt to our possession game!

right now id love to see a front line of tello-messi-villa getting a consistent run with deulofeu coming in off the bench to get him experience as well!

as for the players to buy in the summer! valdes going means a new GK is a definete must!

a quality CB is as well, problem is who as most are unbuyable or recently moved/extended contracts!

a forward is also needed! remember when Pep first arrived we had a front line of Etoo, Henry and Messi?! 3 of the worlds best forwards at the same time! we should have ambitions to have something similiar again!

here's a low cost solution that i'd try in the league given that it's all done an dusted:
(3-5-2)
------------ Valdez ------------
Masc ------- Pique ------- Puyol
Alves - Xavi - Busquets - Iniesta - Alba
------ Messi ------- Villa -----

kinda worked in the sevilla 2nd half (well, mid was a problem but i'd assume a Busquets + Xavi would fix that). pros:
- low cost. all you need to buy is 1x WC CB (someone tall who can play), 1-2 x bench CB, 1 x bench wingback, 1 x bench CF (someone tall who can hold up play for a plan B)
- no need for mass clear outs
- fab is used exclusively as iniesta backup
- 3x CBs should mean alba and alves can attack without leaving the defense exposed
- messi gets support in the form of villa
- villa plays his natural position
- iniesta plays his natural position
- sanchez can play as a backup in his natural position

Karma need to recover their pressing defense... that's the problem. They used to recover a lot of balls in positions where the defenders then didn't have time to get themselves set.

The forwards are just not pressing anymore.

Getting someone to replace Abidal somewhat would held. Alba is as good as Van Der Wiel on defense lol.

This is apparently going to be their line up for Milan.... does anyone think it can work? and if so can it work long term with a few changes like a couple of decent CBs.



Obviously the biggest part of their problem is having no manager to coach and motivate them but seeing as the thread is about tactics and players we might as well discuss it.

For FFS shoot. Dont try to pass the ball into the net. Thats the most annyoing thing about barca. Ofcourse i like that.. Forza Milan.

gondov wrote:

FalcaoPunch wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Noone said that, like literally noone.

They said Roura sucks and is messing us up right now, they said he is clueless..they said we was much better with Tito and him coming up can improve us tactically at the very least.

But noone said bringing Tito back would make us a perfect team or without flaws.

Neither did I say brining Tito back will make you guys flawless/perfect. Some are saying Roura is clueless... how clueless can someone be with a team like Barcelona?

With Messi,Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Puyol, Piqué, Alves, etc etc?
Tito coming back/ or him being present wouldn't have changed anything I'm sure.

You are clueless

Good answer.

Well we're officially f*cked

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:This is apparently going to be their line up for Milan.... does anyone think it can work? and if so can it work long term with a few changes like a couple of decent CBs.



Obviously the biggest part of their problem is having no manager to coach and motivate them but seeing as the thread is about tactics and players we might as well discuss it.

That's the usual 4-3-3, except that Alves plays upfront in that picture (which he always does anyway). That wouldn't change anything in regards to the passing paterns, player movements and team dynamics. Messi would still drop deep and try to attempt throughpasses to his left winger (competent coaches are blocking that passing lane for a while now, only the likes of Getafe get ripped open by that predictable passing pattern nowadays). Alves would still try to feint going outside and then cut inside to cross to Messi without ever running to the byline (no overlapping runs without a real winger partnering him make it even more predictable). Villa would occupy both centrebacks but there would still be 8 other Milan players around the box to block him from receiving meaningful passes. Alexis would just pass it back to the center. Xavi and Iniesta would do endless pirouettes in the middle without finding space upfront to play the killer ball. It's not a "plan B" to just play Alves further forward. This is the type of game where you need to put a Llorente-esque player upfront. The presence of such a strong and tall targetman would do a lot more damage than simply playing Alves out wide. The defenders couldn't stay narrow anymore and deliberately give up space on the flanks because out of 50 crosses Alves and Alba will produce in such a 80 % possession game, at least 2 would find Llorente's head with ease (contrary to Messi's head ). If they can't stay narrow because they have to block the fullbacks from crossing this will open up space in the middle etc. It needs to be a different pattern alltogether. Not the same style with different names on the team sheet.

This is how I'd play against teams like Milan:

Llorente / Drogba / Klose / SOMEONE who isn't a midget and can head a ball
Tello Messi Alexis
Song Busquets
Alba Puyol Pique Alves

With Pique basically playing as a libero and going forward as much as possible and Busquets slotting back into CB during that period.

Get everyone off the pitch who can pass the ball except Messi and Busquets. Get your paciest players on the wings to stretch play as much as possible. Play a targetman with Pique often joining him upfront. Let your wingbacks bombard the box with crosses. Profit. THIS is a plan B. Anything else will just have the same result as the Inter or Chelsea return legs.